Microscopy Solutions for Food Analysis

Examine foreign material with stereo microscopes with low magnifications. You’ll get a preliminary identification of the unknown material and can select the proper method for further analysis of the particle. Receive information about how the particle was generated, and whether it was incorporated into the product during manufacturing or inserted by the customer.

To carry out more profound examinations you use light microscopes with brightfield, polarization and fluorescence contrast. Some food components are birefringent, including starch, fats, plant cell walls, muscle fibers as well as many flavor ingredients. Polarization contrast is invaluable to examine such crystalline materials. In conjunction with Linkam heating stages you observe the effects of tempering (e.g. ageing) on those structures. To detect microorganisms such as bacteria fluorescence microscopy of stained samples is valuable for you. Gram staining is typically used to study and view bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Shigella. Blue staining of starch with iodine is a valuable method as well as Fast Green FCF or Acid Fuchsin especially for the localization of proteins. Because most food materials contain large amounts of water and/or fat, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopes (Environmental SEM) that enable control of both variable pressure and moisture within the sample chamber offer great advantages for the study of food systems without the need for either freezing or drying.